Sobhuza II

Sobhuza II, byname Ngwenyama (siSwati language: “Lion”), (born July 22, 1899, Swaziland—died Aug. 21, 1982, Lobzilla Palace, near Mbabane, Swaziland), king of the Swazi from 1921 and of the Kingdom of Swaziland from 1967 to 1982.

His father, King Ngwane V, died when Sobhuza was an infant, and a queen regent ruled during his minority, while he was being educated in Swaziland and at the Lovedale Institute in Cape province, S.Af. He finally was installed as constitutional ruler of the Swazi on Dec. 22, 1921. At the time, Swaziland was one of Great Britain’s High Commission territories in southern Africa.

In 1967–68 Swaziland achieved independence from Great Britain, with a limited monarchy and an elected legislature. Less than five years later (in April 1973), using a private army that he had secretly raised and equipped, Sobhuza suspended the constitution, dissolved the legislature, outlawed political parties, and assumed supreme power to rule. A new parliament (Libandla) was established in 1979, but it was elected without political parties and its role was merely advisory.

Sobhuza prospered by the use of political and family alliances. His many marriages (at least 70) helped to bind the nation together by tying all important families to his own clan, the Dlamini, who constituted about one-quarter of the population. One history of the Swazi listed 67 sons of the king; some estimates suggest as many as 500 children.

Upon Sobhuza’s death, Swaziland was ruled by a regency for one of his sons, Makhosetive, who became King Mswati III in 1986.